And here is my article from the Guardian on the difficulties Palestinian women face trying to access cancer treatment due to the Blockade http://gu.com/p/4jabm/sb

What inspired you to enter politics?

I have always been political with a small “p”. One of the most rewarding phases of my career was time I spent as a medical volunteer working in a UN hospital in Gaza. There, I saw people suffer for the lack of access to health care and it made me appreciate our NHS even more …..
(Click on image above to read full article)

“Although only recently chosen to stand for the Central Ayrshire seat at Westminster, party sources say they have planned an intense grassroots and social media campaign for the coming months – which will be needed if they are to stand a chance of unseating the incumbent Labour MP, Brian Donohoe, who has been a serving MP since 1992.”

“Dr Philippa Whitford, 55, has broken ranks to predict that without independence the NHS in Scotland will simply wither away. She said: “In five years, England will not have an NHS and in 10 years, if we vote no, neither will we. “If we do not vote Yes in September, I will be heartbroken. I have spent 32 years working in the NHS and it is very dear to me.”

A video of her lecture to a Women for Independence group has gone viral, attracting almost 30,000 hits, and she is now in demand to speak at Yes events across the country.

And it’s the Tory agenda of bringing private firms into the NHS which has convinced her independence is the way ahead.”

A breast cancer surgeon, a feminist blogger and the owner of a Glasgow bar that became an activists’ hub during the referendum campaign are among the “bunch of mavericks” standing for selection as Scottish National party candidates for the general election which, according to recent Guardian polling, promises to radically alter the political landscape in Scotland.

Tuesday 16th Dec 2014

“Better Together officials insist that the decision to focus on the NHS was a panic measure after Salmond’s debate defeat. They were wrong: Yes Scotland and the SNP had put the NHS on their campaign grid months before, after watching the powerful reaction on Facebook and YouTube from yes voters to a speech by Dr Philipa Whitford, a Glasgow-based breast surgeon, claiming that privatisation could kill the NHS within a decade. Within the yes movement, Whitford’s speech had gone viral.”

“The real story of the Scottish referendum: the final days of the fight for independence”

“While the NHS in England is being privatised, it is NHS Scotland that has returned to the traditional philosophy of a unified, publicly funded service. However, Westminster maintains financial control of funding through the Scottish block grant and the Barnett formula, and can therefore still force change despite devolution.”

Dr Whitford, a consultant at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, said the Conservative agenda of bringing private firms into the NHS had convinced her voting “yes” was the right thing to do.

SNP MSP Aileen McLeod said: “These comments from a top surgeon and breast cancer specialist bring the choice of two futures facing Scotland in September into stark focus.